Whirlwind

I have officially completed 2 1/2 weeks of PT school. It has been a complete, wonderful, overwhelming blur. I absolutely love everything I'm learning and I love my classmates and at the same time I feel completely overwhelmed and don't know which way is up at times. I love all of my professors as they each have their own unique, quirky personality. I haven't decided which professor is my favorite yet, but I definitely like Dr. LeBec's (my Integ professor) teaching style. I feel like I pay the most attention in his class because I have to. We always have discussions and applications of the lecture material so it keeps me focused. I like my classmates although I don't feel like I've made any good friends yet. It's still pretty early, so I'm sure that might change. I'm not a loser or anything though, I don't eat lunch alone, I always have a partner, and I always am able to talk to someone during breaks. I feel like some of my classmates might not particularly like me, but that could just be my paranoia and over analytical self. Yesterday we started cadaver labs. I thought I would be a little more freaked out seeing a person who hasn't been dissected at all yet and I thought I would have a hard time cutting, but I was fine. I guess I'm made of stone haha. I was, however, a little disgusted by the fact that we were on the cadaver with the most adipose tissue so we spent most of the lab period digging through fat and barely identified anything. I've been feeling a little inadequate in foundations lab, but I think it's because I'm surrounded by people who know what they're doing and I'm learning it for the first time. I try to remind myself that it's the first time I'm doing it and that with practice I'll get better. At this point I just feel like I'll never be able to learn everything I need to be a good therapist and I'm going to fail miserably....

First Day!

Today was my first day of PT school! It was really fun and exciting and it's already a blur! I can't believe how much reading I have already! My professors and classmates all seem cool so far!

Moving Adventure

Two weeks ago tomorrow we moved to Flagstaff. Everything was going well, we were able to fit everything into Morgan's parents' horse trailer, the truck, and our two cars; we left at 5:30 AM in Morgan's car with Lola in tow, and we were having a great drive. It all went downhill about 11:00.... I called our apartment complex at 10:00 to let them know we would be there around 5:30 that evening. Of course they didn't answer and I had to leave a message. They called back at 11:00 to say that they thought our move in date was the 20th and not the 13th and that the apartment was ready. I won't go into the details because they are no longer important, but this began a huge fight because they thought it was our fault when it clearly wasn't. They changed the move in date without telling us. Luckily, they had an apartment we could stay in until ours was ready. The manager had told us when we set our move in date (the 13th) that she would come back to the office if we came in later than 5:00 to give us our keys to move in. Well, I guess when I got upset with her on the phone earlier that changed because they told us we couldn't move in until the next morning, so we had to get a hotel. I was actually ok with this because I was tired and Morgan's parents weren't going to be there with all of our belongings until the next morning anyway, so it was nice to be able to sleep in a bed and watch some Cops on TV.

We got everything moved into our temporary apartment the next day and the Ovard's generously took us on a Wal-Mart run to get us started. We later had dinner and then the Ovard's left and we went to a movie with my mom and sister (The Expendables, pretty cool and graphic haha). The next day we went to the Grand Canyon. It was amazing! I never knew a giant hole in the ground could take my breath away, but it did! It was a perfect day and I can't wait to go back the next time people come to visit! After the Grand Canyon we went down to Phoenix which was literally hotter than Hell. I'm so glad we are living in the mountains! The next my mom left and I cried (which I had hoped I wouldn't do, but whatever), and Morgan and I went back to our nice, cool mountains.

The following Thursday we were able to move into our apartment. The carpet guys took all day carpeting our 900 square foot apartment (can you imagine?) and we finally got the keys at 5:45 PM. Well, the sidewalk was torn up where we had to walk between the two apartments, so we got to walk across some nice, red sand for four hours. That's right, it took us four hours to move between two apartments by ourselves! We are now completely moved in and we love our apartment! I suppose it was worth the wait and the hassle!

School starts on Monday (only 3 more days of sanity for me). I'm nervous and excited all at once. I hope that I can keep up and do well and make some good friends!

Catching Up

So... I haven't written in awhile. We ended up finding an apartment in Flagstaff. It's a two bedroom with a balcony and a wood burning fireplace. Pretty cool, I'd say! It was a major headache getting it, but we have it and I'm stoked! We also graduated from UNR which was awesome. There's nothing quite like the feeling of graduation. I only wish I could have that feeling more often! I guess after PT school I will have that feeling one more time!

Ash called me in late April/early May (I can't really remember) to let me know that he had purchased the High Desert Minden clinic and to offer me a job. I was so excited to get to work with him again and also to not have to commute to Reno. I LOVE working at Great Basin Physical Therapy! There hasn't been a night when I've dreaded waking up for work the next morning. Ash is the best teacher/mentor I could ask for. He is constantly teaching and finding ways to help me out. He has already paid for my APTA membership and ordered me anatomy flash cards. I don't know how I'll ever thank him, but I hope that someday I can work for him! I know for sure that I'll be doing an internship there because I want to learn from the best!

The big move happens in six weeks and school starts in 2 months! I have so many mixed feelings about this (part of the reason I'm up at 1:30 AM on a weeknight writing this blog). I'm so excited to try something new, meet new people, and start school, but I'm also terrified and sad to leave my home. We've been spending a lot of time at the Lake, and I can't help but think about how much I'll miss it. I hope that we can find some amazing hikes in Flag when we move there so I won't feel so homesick for Tahoe. Overall, I'm pretty excited to start the last portion of schooling and preparation for the career that I've worked so hard towards.

HOORAY!

I found out Monday morning at around 9 that I've been accepted to NAU!!!! I'm going to go there. It was my favorite of the programs because they focus more on clinical education than research. I'm so excited! Now we just have to find a place to live which is proving to be more difficult than I expected. I sent them my deposit (the only one I ended up having to send by the way, yay!). As of August I will be a physical therapy student and a LUMBERJACK!!!

NAU

I got up at 3:30 on Friday morning to leave for my interview at NAU. I was so excited! This was going to be my last interview and I was also going to see my sister and have a mini vacation. We landed in Phoenix at 10:30 their time and drove straight to Flagstaff. I was so overwhelmed with excitement at the whole thing. As we got closer to Flagstaff I was more and more reminded of driving to Tahoe or to Truckee based on the surrounding pine trees. We got into Flagstaff and our hotel was amazing. I've never seen a Comfort Inn like that! It reminded me of a lodge.
Morgan had a meeting with two different advisors about his program so we drove around campus a bit while he was in his meetings. The campus is huge! I can't imagine being an undergraduate there! It's so spread out. I don't know how they get to all their classes on time! All the building were brick and it was really pretty. Morgan really liked the sound of his program and his advisor and he was keeping his fingers crossed that I would be accepted.
Saturday morning was my interview. At the beginning we had a presentation from the director of the program and a video by the first year students. I loved the director! He was my favorite director so far because he seemed so down to earth. I then had my two one-on-one interviews. They were so intense and intimidating! Nothing at all like the interviews at UNLV or Eastern. When I left I didn't feel at all confident. The rest of the trip was okay. We mostly looked at apartments for Brit because it was raining in Phoenix. I was so nervous to find out if I was accepted or not.

Eastern

So I'm a little behind in my blogging, so a lot of these posts will have the same day. I heard that I was accepted to Eastern a couple weeks before my NAU interview and two days after sending my deposit to UNLV. I decided that I didn't want to live in Vegas and I really didn't want to start school in June, so I put a stop payment on my deposit to UNLV. I was excited about that because it saved me $450. YAY! The day before I left for NAU I found out that Eastern wanted me to get a B in an upper division biology class before I could truly be accepted. Problem is, I'm not taking an upper division biology class. This caused a whole lot of stress on my part before my big weekend in Arizona. I emailed EWU and told them about a nutrition class I'm taking that is actually a lot of biochemistry class, and on Friday they told me that it would count. Phew...

Acceptance Number 2!

I got accepted to UNLV! I'm so excited! I am going to accept and send them a deposit until I hear from NAU and EWU and then make my decision!!!

Eastern Washington

My interview at Eastern Washington in Spokane was Saturday (long day Friday getting there I might add). They informed us that they invited 250 people to interview! We had group interviews of eight interviewees to three interviewers. The atmosphere was relaxed and conversational, but we each were only asked three pretty generic questions. I have no idea if they really know who I am now. They are supposed to begin letting us know of their decisions in March. Hopefully I will hear about Eastern and NAU at the same time so I can decide between them. Eastern had a little bit of a colder feel that UNLV, but they had amazing facilities. The building was clean and new and they had great technology. Their cadaver lab was probably the most impressive. It was super clean and didn't smell at all! All of these schools have strong points; hopefully I will be accepted to enough of them to be able to make the decision for myself where I go. NAU is in a couple of weeks and then I think I will be done with interviews. I can't believe I've finally made it to this point! I WILL be going to physical therapy school this summer!!!

UNLV

My UNLV interview was Friday morning. When I got there I learned that I was in the first group to interview, which I was very excited about. I also learned from a few of the students that I had the nicest person to interview me. They were right! Going first allowed me to get it over with and not allow my nerves to build. I felt that overall the interview went well. They mostly asked me questions about myself and my past experiences. There were a few scenario type questions, but I felt that I answered them well. We got tours of both the department and the school. The gym was amazing! It blew Lombardi out of the water and students get to use it for free! I met some first year students who went to UNR and felt like I got along really well with them. The best part about UNLV was the feel and the atmosphere. It felt really homey and I really liked all of the faculty and staff. It made me realize that I might have to consider UNLV a little more. We are supposed to know by Tuesday and that will make my decision about ISU a little easier. If I am accepted to UNLV I will put down the deposit to hold my spot there, otherwise I will hold my spot at ISU until I hear from Eastern and NAU.

Acceptance!

I received my first acceptance letter from Idaho State while in the airport before leaving for Las Vegas for my interview at UNLV. I feel like it really took some of the pressure off in UNLV and made me that much more relaxed and confident. They need a deposit by February 15th. I need to decide in the next few days!

ISU

I got back just a few hours from my first "interview" experience at Idaho State. Instead of doing formal interviews at ISU they just have applicants come to a reception and learn more about the program and meet all of the faculty and admissions committee. It was so much fun! I was so nervous last night before I went to bed, but it was so relaxed and comfortable. I met some really cool people and the faculty all seemed very nice and open to students. A lot of the people I talked to have interviews at the same places I do, some I'm excited to get to see them again in a few weeks. It will be nice to see a few friendly faces when I get to the more formal, slightly more scary interviews.

The program seems really awesome. There is so much clinical experience as they have you in their in-house clinic several days a week right from the beginning. The class size is smaller than some of the other schools I applied to, so that makes it intriguing too. When I first got there and was putting on my name tag, one of the professors/admissions committee members saw my name and told me he remembered my file and was impressed by it! :D I saw this as a really really good sign! This gave me just a little bit of confidence in my application status. Who knows what will happen; I just hope to be accepted to at least one school this cycle. Going to the reception and learning more about the program made it so much more real and made me that much more excited to get started!

Really the only downside I saw to the school is that it was pretty old. Being a state-funded school, I'm sure they have smaller funds than other universities. The building the physical therapy school is in is a renovated dorm, so the rooms are relatively small, which is probably one explanation for the small class size. When we went on our campus tour I noticed that the gym kind of smelled like the Old Gym at CVMS and the student union and library were just like the Getchell and Jot Travis. I think I've gotten spoiled in the last couple years by the Joe and the Knowledge Center.

Pocatello is a pretty cute little town. It really reminded me of the Carson Valley, all nestled into the mountains. I was nervous driving in because all the land in Southern Idaho is so flat. There were just miles and miles of flat farming land with the only mountains visible in the distance. I assume they were potato farms, as I could smell that fresh dirt smell of potatoes on the drive in. I was relieved when we arrived in Pocatello and saw the mountains. I think I could only live somewhere flat if there was an ocean involved.

At the receptions there were significantly more guys than girls, which I found surprising. I always heard that there were higher ratios of women to men at physical therapy schools, but not at ISU. The vast majority of the people there were LDS, which I found surprising until Morgan reminded me that both BYU and BYU Idaho were in close proximity. Everyone was so nice and shared at least one similar interest, so I found it easy to talk to people. I just wonder if all those Mormons would still like me once they heard my dirty mouth. ;)

Although the drive was long, I really had a good time and was glad I went. Eight hours actually didn't really feel like eight hours either direction. Eight hours always feels like eight hours when driving to somewhere like Vegas, but maybe it didn't feel that bad since just a week ago I was in the car for thirteen hours! I'm really glad that Morgan was able to come with me. I'm so lucky to have so many people who support me! This trip made me so excited and so ready to face the next few months!

Idaho State

Tomorrow we are driving to Pocatello, ID to go to a reception for DPT students at Idaho State on Saturday. Although it's not really an interview, I'm still nervous as if it was one. I searched all day for a dress to wear and didn't find one that I really felt was appropriate, so I ended up buying a long sleeve button up top to wear with dress pants. I'm not stoked about it, but it will do. I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep very well tonight. Hopefully I will at least sleep tomorrow night so I don't look tired at the reception. I can't believe the point that I've been working toward for so long is here. I am actually interviewing at schools!!! I'm so excited!!!

Possibilities

I decided to create a blog to keep a journal of my experiences through the PT school application process and (hopefully) physical therapy school. This is mostly for me to be able to really appreciate what is happening and for my family to keep up with me when I am engrossed in the world of PT school.

When I welcomed the New Year I knew that 2010 was going to be a great year. This was going to be the year I've been waiting and preparing for since 2003. I will be graduating from UNR this May and hopefully be starting physical therapy school in the summer. This is the year my life begins. I cannot wait for what lies ahead.

I currently have heard from four of the six schools to which I applied; UCSF/SFSU, UNLV, EWU, and ISU and I have interviews at all of them! I declined the interview at UCSF/SFSU because Morgan and I decided that the cost of living in San Fransisco is just not worth it. I am still waiting to hear back from NAU and UMT, hopefully both will be in the next couple of weeks. I am getting ready to travel to my interviews and preparing to answer questions. I have my schools in priority order of which I want to attend, but I won't put that here for fear of jinxing myself. I can't believe the interview process is here! My first is in less than two weeks! It's so unreal that something I've been working towards and which always seemed so far away is now here! I'm so excited!!!